A need exists for a low cost and practical method to investigate and analyze early shaped charge liner collapse and the liner material after an explosive event. It is desirable to test liner material of a shaped charge after an explosive event in order to investigate the effects of subtle alterations in the liner metallurgy of the shaped charge. However, testing liner materials and/or the collapse of the liner may be difficult because liner collapse of a shaped charge is an explosive event that occurs in microseconds at speeds exceeding 17,000 miles per hour and can include pressures exceeding 30 GPa (gigapascals) and temperatures above 1000° F. While complex and expensive experiments exist for analyzing shaped charges, such as jet capture testing, flight flash X-ray images, and computer simulations, there is a need for a practical and less expensive method of investigating the effects of subtle alterations in shaped charge liner metallurgy.
For example, FIG. 1 shows three photographs of a sample of recovered liner material from a traditional jet capture test, where the liner material has undergone complete deformation, including in flight elongation. In this case, it is difficult to assess the sample because early-stage deformation is difficult to distinguish from late-stage deformation because the explosive jets fully formed, which is a process that occurs after early-stage deformation. The sample also may be broken into numerous pieces during the explosive event and, therefore, may not be usable or recoverable for metallurgical testing. In addition, there is no time history associated with the sample of the liner material. As such, analysis of early liner collapse is difficult or not possible with the traditional jet capture test.
Similarly, there are limitation associated with flight flash X-ray because this technique shows elongation of the jet in flight but does not show liner collapse and early jet formation.
Additionally, while computer simulations, such as the Hydrocodes (FIG. 2) and a CALE-generated model (FIG. 3) show approximations of early-stage liner collapse, these simulations do not physically investigate an actual sample which can be used for metallurgical testing. More particularly, the computer simulation methods of FIGS. 2 and 3 require a mathematical model to approximate interaction between the modeled structure and a shock progression. As such, none of the above methods provide physical materials representing the initial moments of collapse in shaped charge liner material that can be used to analyze the liner materials through post-explosive event tests, such as metallurgical assessments.